Lone Wolf and Cub Collection (Criterion) (Blu-Ray)

Based on the best-selling manga series, the six intensely kinetic Lone Wolf and Cub films elevated chanbara to bloody, new heights. The shogun’s executioner, Itto Ogami (Tomisaburo Wakayama), takes to wandering the countryside as an assassin—along with his infant son Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa) and an infinitely weaponized perambulator—helping those he encounters while seeking vengeance for his murdered wife. Delivering stylish thrills and a body count that defies belief, Lone Wolf and Cub is beloved for its brilliantly choreographed and unbelievably violent action sequences as well as for its tender depiction of the bonds between parent and child.

Collector’s Set Includes


LONE WOLF AND CUB: SWORD OF VENGEANCE

Kenji Misumi 1972

The inaugural film in the Lone Wolf and Cub series immediately thrust Itto Ogami into the ranks of the all-time great samurai movie icons.

________________________________

LONE WOLF AND CUB: BABY CART AT THE RIVER STYX

Kenji Misumi 1972

This exploitation-cinema classic took the action and graphic violence of the Lone Wolf and Cub series to delirious new heights.

________________________________

LONE WOLF AND CUB: BABY CART TO HADES

Kenji Misumi 1972

The third Lone Wolf and Cub film follows Itto Ogami and Daigoro as they stumble upon a crime scene involving a group of lowlife swordsmen from the watari-kashi class.

________________________________

LONE WOLF AND CUB: BABY CART IN PERIL

Buichi Saitô 1972

In this distinctly lowbrow entry in the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Itto Ogami is hired by the Owari clan to assassinate a tattooed woman who is killing her enemies and cutting off their topknots.

________________________________

LONE WOLF AND CUB: BABY CART IN THE LAND OF DEMONS

Kenji Misumi 1973

Balancing physical action with Buddhist musings on life and death, the most spiritual of the Lone Wolf and Cub films finds Ogami’s combat skills put to the test by five different warrior-messengers.

________________________________

LONE WOLF AND CUB: WHITE HEAVEN IN HELL

Yoshiyuki Kuroda 1974

In the final Lone Wolf and Cub film, star Tomisaburo Wakayama decided to make the sort of wild movie he’d always wanted to: one in which Lone Wolf battles zombies and Daigoro’s baby cart zips improbably across an icy landscape on skis.

Disc Features

New 2K digital restorations of all six films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays
High-definition presentation of Shogun Assassin, the 1980 English-dubbed reedit of the first two Lone Wolf and Cub films
New interview with Kazuo Koike, writer of the Lone Wolf and Cub manga series and screenwriter on five of the films
Lame d’un père, l’âme d’un sabre, a 2005 documentary about the making of the series
New interview in which Sensei Yoshimitsu Katsuse discusses and demonstrates the real Suio-ryu sword techniques that inspired those in the manga and films
New interview with biographer Kazuma Nozawa about filmmaker Kenji Misumi, director of four of the six Lone Wolf and Cub films
Silent documentary from 1937 about the making of samurai swords, with an optional new ambient score by Ryan Francis
Trailers
New English subtitle translations
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay and film synopses by Japanese pop culture writer Patrick Macias